I've been running a Numenera Campaign for the last month or two and I've been slowly working out a interesting theory. Its based off "the worlds collide" material, basically stating that Numenera is a recursion of The Strange. If you look at Torment tides of Numenera you might wonder why they didn't pick The Strange instead of Numenera. I'm not saying I really understand The Strange incredibly well, but couldn't they of made a recursion that suited Torment? It seems to me that they could of, but what I'm going to suggest is that they really did just that. Confused yet? Basically the big secret of Torment is that its technically a "Strange" game. Numenera is a Primary recursion of the Strange and although 80% of the game may take place within the 9th world its still in some sense "The Strange". At some point when you enter The Bloom you will go through a portal into another dimension. These other dimensions will basically be other recursions.

"In itself, it is a massive Numenera, and could be categorize as a discovery. Its assumed original purpose was to create pathway between several points in space and to other dimensions, as it body extend way beyond what can be observe." - http://numenera.gamepedia.com/Bloom

What does this have to do with The Sorrow?
Well, what if the Sorrow was a Planetovore?

"Beings and creatures from The Strange try to reach “prime worlds” like Earth. The biggest threats are planetovores, creatures that seek to scour Earth and other prime worlds of all life."
If The Sorrow is a Planetovore it would be using the bloom and The last Castoff as a means of entering the 9th World. When The Portals to other dimensions was opened within The Bloom if gave The Sorrow a way in. Something else to consider is the fact that in some sense both a Planetovore and The Sorrow are both purveyors of entropy.

The Strange didn't exist when they started making TTON, it was created later on. But yes, the Strange would have been an equally suitable settings for a Torment game, and my secret hope is that after TTON they make a third Torment game, this time in the Strange (And if they did the second in the Strange, my secret hope would have been a third in Numenéra, the two are equally suited for Torment games).

anonymous6059 wrote:Anyway, just an idea I had rolling around and I hope someone finds it interesting.

Interesting, sure, that's part of how rich and flexible Numenéra and the Strange are, in a similar fashion to Planescape. Numenéra could be a recursion of the Strange, the Strange could exist within Numenéra, Numenéra could be the long-term furture of the Strange. And both could be linked with Planescape in other ways, if you really wanted to - Planescape, Numenéra and the Strange have this general-purpose and flexible enough so you can do whatever you want with them, making them all awesome, and suitable to Torment games

But I don't think that'll be the case. TTON will be a "pure" Numenéra game, they had the main storyline written before the Strange was published.

The Strange didn't exist when they started making TTON, it was created later on. But yes, the Strange would have been an equally suitable settings for a Torment game, and my secret hope is that after TTON they make a third Torment game, this time in the Strange (And if they did the second in the Strange, my secret hope would have been a third in Numenéra, the two are equally suited for Torment games).

anonymous6059 wrote:Anyway, just an idea I had rolling around and I hope someone finds it interesting.

Interesting, sure, that's part of how rich and flexible Numenéra and the Strange are, in a similar fashion to Planescape. Numenéra could be a recursion of the Strange, the Strange could exist within Numenéra, Numenéra could be the long-term furture of the Strange. And both could be linked with Planescape in other ways, if you really wanted to - Planescape, Numenéra and the Strange have this general-purpose and flexible enough so you can do whatever you want with them, making them all awesome, and suitable to Torment games

But I don't think that'll be the case. TTON will be a "pure" Numenéra game, they had the main storyline written before the Strange was published.

I'm sure that they had a story-line, but I don't think they finished really hashing out a lot of stuff for a long time. How long I don't know, but I know that the original "idea" that Mr. Collins pitched and the finished product (which still doesn't exist) are two very different creatures. He actually even said so himself, well kind of, in a previous thread. Plus, The Strange was made during the same time that they were collaborating with Monte Cook Games right? I think The Strange was...what late 2013 or early 2014? So would it not make sense that some of those ideas got put into Torment? Especially, the portals and giant entropy monster... I mean that sounds exactly like The Strange. Plus, would it not be a great sales opportunity if they did reference The Strange once or twice in Torment?

I'm not saying it is in fact a The Strange game. I'm just saying that it could be viewed that way if some of what I'm speculating turns out to be true. Nothing else really explains the existence of something like The Sorrow or well not quite so neatly at least.

If you have a more interesting explanation for The Sorrow I'd love to hear it though.

Here a interesting and amusing thought.
What if the Underspine and the sorrow are related. Even worse what if they are part of the same living organism? Imagine that The Sorrow is the mouth that eats intellegent beings. The Underspine is the rear end that defecates Tabaht. Oh... yeah no one will find this amusing but me.

Realized that I didn't really answer your question.
Brian Fargo released a short video showing The Sorrow. https://www.facebook.com/Torment.inXile/
From the looks of the video it does not seem to have a face.
My guess is the sorrow doesn't actually exist. It is something that only takes precedence in the Last Castoffs mind.
It could still kill The Last Castoff don't get me wrong. I just don't know if it exist outside his/her mind.

I actually had been mixing the Sorrow and the Bloom up when I started this thread. Part of me still feels that they are somehow related. What are the chances that both just happen to resemble tentacle monsters? Perhaps the Bloom is The Sorrows way of existing in the 9th World. I'm not saying its a great theory, but I haven't heard any others yet. I'd hoped to get a few more people to share ideas on the topic.